


The Rodent Disappearances

by yellow_owl



Category: Zootopia (2016), Zootropolis (2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-05-31 12:33:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellow_owl/pseuds/yellow_owl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judy is wondering how the police force, mostly consisting of larger animals controls the area of the Rodent-town. She will soon find out as a series of mammal disappearances happens in this quiet part of Zootropolis.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Daddy’s Daughter

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Disney chose to market the film under different names in different parts of the world, so Zootropolis is the same as Zootopia. As I happen to think that Zootropolis is a far better name I'll stick to it.

It has been 3 months since Nick and Judy became partners on the ZPD and she was getting more and more used to their patrol rounds around the city. Chief Bogo mentioned that summer was the quiet season for police – for some reason the disturbances peaked in spring, went sharply down in summer, and then picked up steadily from autumn until the next spring, repeating the cycle over and over again, so now, mid-July, their rounds were quiet and felt more like aimless circling the streets, rather then actually doing anything productive.

\- You know, in Summers I used to go fishing on this one lake I know… It’s not too far away from here, and the fish is amaaaazing – said Nick, looking lazily at the Sun in the cloudless blue sky. His sunglasses were firmly on his nose, but even through them and the toned police car windows the glare was too much to look at for longer then couple of seconds, so he turned away and looked at Judy instead.

Despite the aircon, she was gradually going all sweaty – the Sun was baking Zootropolis since morning and their car was baking in it too. It was 4pm now but the heat seemed to be only increasing. Lake seemed like a good idea, but at this point shower would’ve done it too.

\- And that is why summer is so quiet – all the cons go fishing, relaxing and give their shifty businesses a rest.  
\- Well, Carrots, criminals are not police, they’ve got a bit more flexibility and a more generous holiday allowance, you know.

 

Judy smiled at this and turned into the street leading to the office. Their shift was ending and she was looking forward to changing into something lighter before she would head out into the city.

\- So, what’s you plan for the evening? – asked Nick when they were getting out of the car.  
\- Oh, I’m meeting up with a friend by the Central Station in an hour. Why?  
\- No particular reason, I was just, you know, making polite conversation. Have fun and see you tomorrow!

He turned round and went off into the male changing room. Judy watched him disappear behind the heavy door as she locked the car in the garage and placed the key onto the storage board. “Polite conversation” – she repeated to herself, unsure what to make of it.

***

Standing in the shower cabin, Nick let the cool water run through his fur. A part of him was awfully curious who Judy was meeting up with, but by the 15th minute under the shower he finally agreed with himself it was likely to be some bunny girl friend from school coming to spend an evening in the big city (otherwise, why would they meet by the train station?), so there was absolutely no need to worry about it. Why would he worry about who Judy was meeting up with anyway?! He shook out, towel-dried his fur and left the cabin, his mind already thinking of what to cook for dinner.

***

Standing in her white cotton dress under the afternoon sun felt great and Judy was more focused on feeling the sun and the light breeze on her face, then scanning the crowd. Fru-Fru appeared as if out of nowhere and tugged on the bottom of her dress, so Judy almost jumped up in surprise.  
After a warm greeting, they headed to a nearby café. The street was busy with evening commuters and as Fru-Fru was without her usual bodyguards, it was only prudent to get somewhere a little less hectic.

\- Judy, you look amazing! – Fru-Fru tucked into her seed and nut cake  
\- Thanks, Fru-Fru. Glad to see you again – Judy sipped the carrot juice and studied the stylish look of her unlikely friend. Somehow she’s recently got into this habit of making unlikely friends – a fox, an arctic shrew who just happens to be the daughter of the major crime baron… What next?  
\- I’ve got to tell you something… Actually, I want to ask you to help me out with something. Something delicate. I’m not asking you to promise anything before I tell you what it is about, frankly, it is probably nothing, but anyway…

Fru-Fru put her spoon down and suddenly got very serious:  
“I have this friend, Schinschilda. Known her for years, we’ve been at school together, until she quit, that is. She’s from a humble family and is sort of very… you know, down to earth, and we are very different – I mean, she’s had seven pups before I even thought of getting any, and all from different fathers… Daddy disapproves of us spending time together, of course, but she has always, always been a good friend. So a week ago we were supposed to meet in the park, me finally planning to introduce my two pups to her youngest ones, but she never showed up!

I didn’t think too much of it back then, thought maybe something got in the way… But she was not returning calls that day or any of the next days, and 2 days ago I finally went to her place and there was no one there, not a trace of any of them, and they’re a big family!

Look, I know that daddy might have not wanted the little ones ‘mixing with the wrong company’, as he calls it (even though there is nothing wrong with them!), so he might have just relocated them, with conditions of silence… But I need to know. I need to know nothing bad happened to them. They lived in Rodent-town, here’s the address.

Could you take a look at the police records? Just to check there is nothing about them? Could you do it for me, Judy?”

\- Well, I don’t think there will be any harm coming from looking through the records, if that’ll put your mind at ease. I’m not entirely sure who covers the Rodent-town, but I’ll check it.  
\- Thanks a lot, Judy. That’ll really put my mind at ease… I’ve got to go now, not so easy to spend time… quietly these days, but let me know what you find out!  
\- I will Fru-Fru. Have a good evening!

The young shrew got out of the café and caught a taxi, blending in with the traffic, leaving Judy in deep thought.

***

Next morning Judy got in early, well before their shift started to go through the records to find out what team was covering Rodent-town and if there has been anything unusual happening there lately. She bumped into Nick just as was leaving the common room to go up to see Chief Bogo – she had to get an answer to the question that formed in her mind back yesterday and got only more pointed today.

\- Wow, you’re in nice and early!  
\- Morning, Nick! Ready for another day of riding around?  
\- Ready as can be – he smiled, studying her face and posture. Something was up, he could tell.  
\- I’ll be back in a moment, just need to ask the Chief about something… Oh, and check your top drawer. – and she darted up the stairs before he could say anything else.

A cup of blueberries was waiting for him in the drawer. Large, and amazingly sweet – “well, I suppose having farmers as parents has its advantages” – he smiled to himself and popped a handful of berries into his mouth.

***

\- Morning, Chief.  
\- Morning, officer Hopps. What brought you to my office this morning?  
\- I had a question, Chief. More like, an enquiry, actually. Who covers Rodent-town?  
\- What do you mean?  
\- As I understand, it is under our precinct, but… well, we never go patrolling there, or have any cases there… It’s like a blank spot on our map, you know?

Chief took a deep breath. Judy pointed out something he knew for a while and to which he got so used to, he sort of forgot all about it.

\- Well, you said it yourself – we have got no cases and no reports coming from this area. It is very quiet, so what is the point of patrolling it? Nothing happens there, Hopps, just rodents spending their days working and living there. It’s a quiet pat of town. Besides, you’ve been there yourself – and it has been… awkward?   
\- So none of our officers can go there?  
\- They have no reason to go there, because nothing is happening in this quarter! Otherwise, trust me, we would’ve found a way.  
\- But we still keep the records and we have the street cameras there, right?  
\- Right. But again, they are hardly used anyway. Why the sudden interest, though?  
\- Oh, I just was talking to a friend and she was trying to locate a friend of hers who suddenly disappeared in this quarter… She was worried, so I took a look… But there seemed to be no missing person’s records, so it is likely the family just moved out. But then there were no records for this part of town at all, so I thought I just check it with you. I hope this is ok.  
\- Sure, officer Hopps, we are here for concerned citizens, after all. – Bogo’s face was impenetrable, and Judy could not tell if he was saying this seriously or in a slightly reprimanding way.

Judy thanked Bogo for his time and slipped out of his office. Why was she feeling so bad about a quarter that had no police presence because it did not need it – wasn’t that the ideal they were working to? But the thought that there were likely to be crimes going unreported because there was no one the inhabitants could trust enough to talk about it, kept stubbornly rotating in her mind. She resolved that once their shift is over she’d take a look at those street cameras around the house. If something was off she was likely to see at least some signs of it.

 

***

After another quiet shift, as they were driving back to the office, Judy’s thoughts got back to Fru-Fru’s request. She was right in the middle of thinking through all the steps she’d need to take to look at the camera footage, when Nick sharply turned her wheel to the left.

\- Judy, we almost hit that parked car! Were you even looking at the road?!  
\- Oh, sorry, I just sort of… zoomed out.  
\- That’s it, tomorrow I’m driving.  
\- Tomorrow is Saturday.  
\- Fine, then I’ll be driving from Monday on. My life has just started changing for the better, you know. No reason to shorten it!  
\- Sorry…  
\- On a different note, what’s eating you?  
\- Noting! Nothing’s eating me, I have just been thinking over work, that’s all  
\- Judy, there’s nothing to think about. It’s July, it is so mind-numbingly quiet, there is nothing to even think of. So come on, you can tell me, what is it?  
\- Honestly, it’s nothing, I was just… thinking of checking the traffic cameras in some regions. As you say, nothing is going on, so maybe we should think of more speed cameras or something…

What she was saying made almost no sense, and she was prepared for Nick to laugh it off and ask for the real reason, but he didn’t. He must really think her such a nerd and lover of theory, that he thought it plausible and let the subject drop.

\- Judy, do you have… plans for tonight? – she was staring straight at the road to make sure she won’t get dangerously close to anything, but she could swear, out of the corner of her eye, she could see his ears shift in some sot of new fashion. – Cause I thought we could go with the other guys to that cocktail bar they often go to? I’ve never been, actually…  
\- Oh… Cocktail sounds nice, but I, err… I need to finish something off at the office. Don’t want it hanging in my mind over the weekend.

Nick’s ears dropped for a second, but he seemed to make a conscious effort to put them back up.   
\- Ok, well, I’ll let you know how it went then…  
\- Thanks for invitation though. And… what are your plans for tomorrow? I mean, I know it’s Saturday and you probably have enough of me on weekdays, but you mentioned that lake, and I thought, what if we do go there and swim a bit?  
\- The plan is to go swim with you in the lake then.

He said it in his usual nonchalant way, but out of the corner of her eye she could see that naughty green spreading on his muzzle. She couldn’t help but smile herself. It’s been ages since she went swimming with friends.

***

Three hours. Three looong Friday night hours of going through the street camera footage, trying to discern one passer by from the other. They seriously need to do something with this fashion for suites – it makes mammals look unbearably similar, especially rodents, to the point when she could only tell what species they were, and even that she was not always sure about.

There was absolutely nothing on the footage that looked out of ordinary. There were no cameras directly in front of Schinschilda’s block of flats, but there were a couple on up and down the street, so Judy would have seen everyone who passed by the house anyway. And there was nothing that stood out. Schinchilda herself seemed to go there and back sometimes, but not particularly much, there were some kids on the street, but there was no way to really identify whose they were – they just lived in the neighborhood. But overall there was nothing that stood out, so Judy was forced to admit that there was nothing really to go on – no missing person’s reports, no records of anything suspicious and, frankly, no grounds to go enquiring after the girl. If she did move, it was likely organized by Mr Big and most likely did not really hurt Schinschilda or her children. Judy suspected they actually got a little better off in the process. She texted Fru-Fru that there was no trace of any foul play and suggested she has a frank conversation with her father.


	2. Everyone Moves On

A month has passed since Judy has seen Fru-Fru, now out of nowhere an e-mail from her showed up in her mailbox. She clicked it open.

Fru-Fru was apologizing for not getting back to Judy earlier, and telling about her forthcoming travelling plans, and that she was pregnant (again) and on and on about how her offspring was getting bigger and stronger and taking all of them after their grand-papa. Judy skimmed through the e-mail, which seemed to be similar to all the other e-mails she’s ever received from Fru-Fru (Judy politely replied to all of them) when one phrase caught her eye: “Went along the High street of Rodent-town the other day – believe it or not, a couple of shops closed down! Just the ones I liked! And in some others they have new shop assistants who have no idea about what I my tastes are… You know, a few friends also moved out and it just doesn’t feel the same anymore! Ah well, everyone moves on, I suppose.”

Judy re-read it and thought back on the lack of police presence in that part of the city. But no, this was ridiculous. Shop assistants change all the time. Shops go in and out of business, the rents went up and some decided to move, it was the usual way of life. But she will check the stats of the region population and economics, just to prove it to herself that she is imagining things.

She clicked the e-mail closed and stuffed the laptop into her bag. She’ll answer that another time, she was already getting late…


	3. Serious Conversations and Ergonomic Design

Nick was trying to tidy up his flat when the doorbell rang. He froze and looked at the clock – it was still an hour before they agreed to meet with Judy and his flat needed at least an hour of clean up. Frankly, it needed far more than that, more like a day or two, but an hour would have to do.

He left the wet cloth on the windowsill and came to the door. To his utter surprise it was Finnick. Keeping him outside and pretending he was not here was not an option – Finnick was an old friend and those huge ears could hear his every step, so Nick had only one option: he opened the door.

\- Well, that’s a surprise! What brings you here, Finnick?  
\- A general urge to surprise. – His deep voice was full of bitter sarcasm, as ever. - May I come in?  
\- Sure. I was just, ummm, cleaning up.  
\- Looks clean enough to me. – Finnick busily directed himself to the kitchen, took a bottle of beer from the fridge and expertly popped it open with his claw – ‘You mind? – he asked before taking a swig.  
\- No, but I’m sort of expecting someone, so it would be good if you could cut straight through to the matter. – There was no need for ceremony with Finnick. He embodied the casual cheek, which Nick found annoying and somewhat breathtaking at the same time.  
\- That bunny girlfriend of yours, I presume.  
\- She’s not my girlfriend. – Nick started getting annoyed. More then he usually did. More then he should’ve and the fennec fox felt it.  
\- Alright, none of my business, but let me know if you want my blessing or something.

Finnick jumped on the couch and made himself comfortable in the corner. He took another swig and finally started talking about what he actually came for. “So I’ve got this business going, right, in the Rodent-town, and…”

\- Finnick, I’m sorry mate, but I’ve got to stop you right there. You know I’m with ZPD now, and I honestly, honestly don’t want to see you behind bars. So in light of this, maybe I shouldn’t hear some things. Maybe I shouldn’t know about your business, and we should, you know, decide that you came here just for a beer and because you’ve missed me like crazy, or something.  
\- I know who you’re with, you idiot! That’s why I came!

That was new. So new, in fact, that Nick gave up cleaning all together. He threw the wet cloth into the kitchen sink and sat down next to Finnick.

\- Look, the business is completely legitimate. And that’s not the craziest part of it! So one morning I wake up and there’s something in my ear. Something rather heavy, and it feels so weird, it’s crazy. So I try to take it out and see what it could be and it’s a hamster! Can you believe it?! A freaking hamster in my ear!! I was so shocked I actually listened to what he said. So turns out this crazy guy is an artist, a furniture designer, right. So he’s been searching for ergonomic shapes. D’you know what that even means? Well, I didn’t, but it’s basically a fancy way of saying ‘comfortable’. Like, sort of made for you to feel comfortable, the way your body wants to feel. So the cheeky bastard has gone on a project to find, you just listen to this, the most ergonomic shape Mother Nature has created for a rodent. Turns out, my ear is this most ergonomic shape.  
\- Yeah, right, your ear is the most comfortable place for a hamster to sleep. Because that’s what mother nature intended, of course. Now I get why they’re so big. – Nick was sure one of them was going insane.  
\- Sounds nuts, right?! But turns out this Hipster Hamster… Hamster Hipster? I can never get his bloody name right, but anyway, the guy did a lot of research into this. He told me there’s a lot of demand for ergonomic furniture among rodents, especially among the rodents of Zootropolis, because many of them spend their days sitting at desks and their posture is all wrong and they end up hurting their backs and overstraining their muscles, and then at night they sleep on these wrong beds in wrong positions and the problem only gets worse. And these are high-earner rodents we’re talking about, they would pay thousands to get a good sleep and reduce the pain in their necks! And there are at least 5 million of them in this city. Five million, Nick!  
\- Ok, so…  
\- So you know me, I know everyone in this city, so we sorta partner up…  
\- With the Hipster Hamster?  
\- Yeah, he’s got a trendier name then you and he gets to work with me, so you can be properly jealous. Anyway, so yes, we open this business for making rodent beds with ergonomic design.  
\- Based on your ears?!  
\- Yeah, based on my ears. Turns out, my right ear is perfect for the most suffering bunch – those without the tails, or with very short tails, while the left one is better for those with tails… And this is proper scientific stuff, they tested it and all. We even got it approved and recommended by the RASMMA.  
\- By the what?!  
\- RASMMA – Rodent and Smaller Mammals Medical Association. Ergonomic beds, based on trade secret design, as Mother Nature intended. For your comfort and ultimate back pain relief! – Finnick was standing on the couch, waving his half-empty beer in a very inspired way. Nick knew this state of his – he would not participate in a scheme unless he really believed in it. To the point that some part of him got actually deceived and bought into the trick. Only this time it did not seem to be a trick, but a genuine enterprise where his energy finally got to be put to good use.  
\- So what are you doing here, instead of flocking these beds of yours to relieve those poor hamsters of their back pain and money at the same time?  
\- Well, that’s the thing, see. There’s this sort of… disturbance in the Rodent-town right now. We were a great success and started selling well, but then there seem to have been something bad happening in the town. They’re all… not panicked, no, but visibly afraid. Not like they talk about it or something, but you know there are whispers and I do have big ears. Some wealthy customers moved from the area, many are still there but they’re thinking more about their safety then their health. It’s not good for any business, and it is surely not good for our start up.  
\- Hmmm, interesting, I haven’t really heard anything about it.  
\- That’s the thing, no one really heard anything about it. Not like any newspapers are writing anything to bring on the worry, but there’s this cloud over the Rodent-town, and I can’t get what’s going on. So I want you to look into it.  
\- Look into it?  
\- Yes. I am a concerned citizen, I am asking you as a ZPD representative to look into it. – he leaned on he back of the sofa and took one final swig of his beer.

Nick was still mulling over what he just heard when Finnick stood up on the couch and suddenly took his head into his paws. It has always surprised Nick how strong those paws actually were, and he did not appreciate them now holding his head so tightly.

\- Nick – said Finnick with some new kind of fascination in his voice – You know, they might be perfect.  
\- Who?!  
\- Your ears. For the rodents with bigger tails. You know, like squirrels, or those… how are they called? You know..? Chinchillas, yes! We’ve been looking to widen our range and… well, I’m no expert yet, but the only way to really find out is to test. But I think they have potential!

Nick did not like the determination in Finnick’s eyes. Whatever it was his ears were perfect for, he’ll need to find it out another time.

\- Ok, Finnick, I’ll look into this and let you know hat I find, but for now if you could… If you could please leave, that would be good. I’m expecting a guest.  
\- Sure, but I bet your girlfriend… Ok, your friend, would not mind me borrowing you for just taking a quick mould... She’s not even here yet! It’s just sheer luck I just bought this instant porcelain mix…  
\- Look, mate, this is really not…

His protest was cut short by the doorbell. “Great – thought Nick, - This is just great, isn’t it? The place is a mess, and now this guy…” He opened the door and of course Judy was there. Carrying paper bags with food and a rucksack bulging full of something. She was smiling, though when she noticed Finnick a hint of surprise spread across her face.

\- Judy, you met Finnick before…  
\- Yeah, I think I’ve had the pleasure  
\- Nice to see you, er, again. – Finnick tried to be charming and made his voice as deep as possible. For some reason he thought it made him charming. Nick suddenly wanted to strangle him.  
\- Am I too early?! – Judy tried to take a look at her watch, nearly making the food cascade out of the paper bags. Nick helped her to hold them up.  
\- No, no, you’re just on time and Finnick here was just leaving.  
\- Actually, no, Finnick here was just about to have a serious man to man conversation with you, Nick, which would take about 20 minutes. And then yes, he was totally leaving.

 

Judy watched Nick’s ears fall back, there was something unbearably fascinating about the way they moved.

\- What man to man conversation!?  
\- In the bathroom, now. Come on, the quicker we start, the quicker it’s over.  
\- Judy, I’m sorry, this really was not…  
\- That’s ok. You go ahead and I’ll just unpack these in the meantime. 

Despite herself Judy was dying to hear what this serious conversation was about. But just when she was trying to hear something, the sound of running water drowned out the faint sounds of their conversation.

In 15 minutes when she was just finished washing the vegetables and cleaning out the fish (it is odd how the company you keep influences your skills and what you see as ordinary. She’s never even held raw fish in her hands in Bunny Barrow, let alone prepared one for cooking), a loud yelp cam out of the bathroom and no sooner that she reached it, the bathroom door opened and Finnick marched out happily carrying a heavy-looking bag with what looked like two sizeable lumps of… something inside it.

\- Judy, have a good evening – he sent her a mocking salute and before she managed to say anything saw himself out.

She stepped into the bathroom before he had a chance to close the door. He must’ve looked horrible. He surely felt horrible.

\- Nick? Are you ok?! What sort of men to men conversation ends with a fight!?  
\- The one where two mates argue and then one does something crazy.  
\- So?..

Nick instantly realized he shouldn’t have said that. He could see she was imagining the image of Finnick reminding Nick that maybe he is spending too much time with a bunny, and that maybe he betrayed his mates by going ZPD side and god knows what else… This had to be stopped.

\- So he… he made a plaster mould of my ears. – He watched Judy’s eyebrows go up and sort of stay there, waiting for him to continue. – It’s for his… business. It is quite funny, actually…  
\- He put plaster into your ears and then when it took more or less solid form, he… tore it out?! And you call that funny?  
\- Yeah… Hence the sound you no doubt heard and I guess some of the fur missing… But he did it for a funny reason, you know.  
\- And why on earth would he do this?! – Judy’s eyebrows got back to their normal place  
\- Well, because apparently fox ears are simply amazing and he wanted a mould off mine and we couldn’t dunk them into silicone, but he wanted it right away, so he used…  
\- Dunk them? Dunk your ears into silicone?  
\- Yeah, look it’s a long story. And I’ll tell it to you over dinner.

Nick decided to skirt over the heavy cloud over Rodent-town part of the story and tell Judy just the business part of it. They were just about to sit down to their plates when he realized something was off. Something stopped him moving his ears, tugging at the fur, making each turn feel painful. Judy quickly picked up on this and came over from her side of the table. She climbed the neighboring stool and took Nick’s head into her paws. Nick wondered if it was a Head Holding day today, or something. 

Judy’s paws were strong, he knew that, but somehow she managed to hold his head in such a delicate way he didn’t feel like he minded it. In fact, he felt like closing his eyes for a moment… Judy looked at his ears and sighed.

\- Nick, this is porcelain, I think…  
\- Yes, instant porcelain, that’s what he used.  
\- Well, look it sort of splattered to the back of our ears and a bit to the fur at the back of our head, and is now getting stronger and, well, stopping your movement. We need to wash it off, and quickly. My brothers did this once to each other – took moulds to see if they really are identical twins, and waited too long to wash it off, and it was not pretty. Honestly, not something I recommend as an experience. We need to wash it off now.

The steaming hot stew was left on the table, their plates abandoned empty. It felt awkward to let Judy into the bathroom with him, but she insisted on helping him to make sure it is all washed off properly. He stripped down to his shorts and climbed into the tub. 

Nick resolved it was a day of surreal experiences – because what he was telling her about the ergonomic properties of Foxes’ ears was only matched by what she was doing, standing above him and massaging shampoo into the fur on the back of his head and ears. “Judy, if you ever get bored of being with ZPD, you should open your own head-massage saloon” – he looked up and saw her smirk at this remark.

“Yeah, massaging ears like this…” – Nick’s ears turned out to be surprisingly soft and warm and under the shampoo foam even fluffy. These were the ears to fall in love with. It is odd how this phrase sounded very right in her head, like something she knew all along, but just never had a chance to say. Not that she would say it now, no need to freak out Nick, no need at all… Just a friend washing off porcelain from his fur, that’s what she was, right?

As nice as it was to go through thick ginger fur and look at Nick from above and not from below (for once!), this crazy ear bath could not last forever. She showered the remains of the shampoo off and before Nick could say anything, started drying his head off with a towel.

\- Wow, Judy, you… Thanks so much, but I think I’m ok drying them myself.  
\- Oh, sorry, I’ll just leave you to finish your shower then – her own ears felt hot at this remark, and she let go of the towel and she opened the bathroom door to go out.  
\- Judy?  
\- Yeah?  
\- Thank you.  
\- No problem… For our ears – any time! – Why did she have to say that now?!  
\- I’ll keep this in mind – he smiled – Do you dry yours you with the same energy? Is that why they’re so long? – right now a full size smirk was spreading on his muzzle. Judy stepped closer.  
\- Yep, that’s exactly why. I’ll go get the kettle on…

She left the bathroom, and Nick touched his right ear. Maybe he should get Finnick make more of those moulds, he mused to himself.


	4. Big Secret

The e-mail from Fru-Fru that Judy read before heading off to Nick’s that Saturday kept firmly on her mind. Mostly rivaled by the memory of those ginger ears she shampooed, perhaps, but still on quite constant rotation inside her head. By Monday she knew she had to talk to Mr Big, and she had to let Chief know about it, somehow. She was not planning to accuse him of something, more like get an insight view on how things are in the Rodent-town and if he really saw them as as peaceful as Chief Bogo did. Of course, that might result into an awkward situation of him being the head of the crime group clandestinely terrorizing the quarter, and being not too happy about Judy getting too curious about it, but she had a feeling that of she talked about it in the right way, it might actually work out.

That day Nick and her had the afternoon shift, so she had all morning to figure it out. She called Mr Big if she could come over for a brief conversation. To her utter surprise he agreed and said he’d send a car to pick her up. After that was done she sat down to her desk beside the bed and wrote a brief note addressed to the Chief, explaining her reasons to meet with Mr Big. She rushed to the office and left it on her desk – had the meeting not gone well, they would doubtlessly search her desk and find the letter. If it does go well, though, she will just destroy it. The only thing Judy was a bit worried about is her partner. Not letting him know was sensible on one hand – she definitely was not planning to get into unnecessary trouble with Mr Big, and she did not want Nick to worry about her or go with her to ask these delicate questions. On the other hand, though, it felt a bit like a betrayal. At the end she resolved to tell him about it all after the meeting. And if it did go unexpectedly badly, well, at least there will be someone who would notice her absence and raise the alarm.

The car arrived and Judy climbed in next to a polar bear. “Hello” – she said, and he curtly nodded to her. Polar bears employed by Mr Big seemed to be not overly social types. As she tried to collect her thoughts, the car suddenly stopped and the bear got out, only to return with Nick under his arm and shove him into the car. Judy’s mouth fell open.

\- What’s going on?!  
\- Nothing – said the Polar Bear – you’re going to see Mr Big.  
\- I know, but… - the car pulled off and the bear closed his eyes and seemed to have turned to stone.

 

\- Nick, what are you doing here?!  
\- I don’t know, I could ask you the same question! What are you doing here? Did you get abducted too?!  
\- No, not exactly, it’s sort of the opposite…  
\- You told them to abduct me?!  
\- No, of course not. I am not really sure what’s going on anymore…  
\- So you were sure at some point?  
\- Yeah, well, I’ll tell you all later, I don’t think right now is the time and place to discuss this.

The car stopped and the bear signaled them to get out. Nick and Judy were escorted to the already familiar room, only now they were actually offered chairs to sit on. Maybe it was not going to be as bad as Nick had pictured. Mr Big made his usual entrance and then asked the bears to leave. This was new, but as far as the fox could judge, a positive development as well, as alone he would definitely not be able to ice them on the spot.

 

“Hello. Glad to see you again, Judy. Nick… There is a delicate matter I would like you to look into for me. I think this is the same delicate mater you were hoping to talk to me about, Judy. And the same matter you thought of figuring out on your own – he nodded in Nick’s direction. I would like you to listen to me very carefully and keep the questions till when I finish.

You know Rodent-town is a quiet place. A very peaceful, rather high-value place where a lot of dear friends live. Or used to live. My daughter is a regular visitor, as you know, and I quite like the place myself, although of course, I do not get the chance to visit often.

However, recently things started changing. It looks like there have been several disappearances in the town, they keep on happening to the extent that mammals notice, yet it just seems like these people left, there is usually nothing wrong with the places they lived or worked in, it is all looking normal, as if they went on holiday. Only I know they did not, they have absolutely vanished. There is a heavy cloud over Rodent-town. No one really speaks of disappearances, but several people moved out, some businesses closed. And it is… disappointing. There are so few good places like this, and it is highly… highly disappointing to see such a special one disappear. You understand what I mean?

I would like you to look into it. I do not want it to be known to public, and I do not want my statement to appear in any records. You can use the content, but not the source, I am sure you understand.

Would you like to ask me something?”

\- Yes. – Judy answered the moment he stopped talking, - I actually had a question. Also a delicate one, if I may… I was going through the papers the other day and, well, I noticed there has never been any reports of any crimes in the area. How could this be? Do you think the mammals are just not reporting it to police?  
\- There is nothing to report. Till this day there was no crime in the area.  
\- But... there are criminals among all species, so how…  
\- Nick here knows how. Don’t you, Nick? – Mr Big allowed himself a brief smile, while Nick was visibly uncomfortable.

“It is a very simple thing, Judy, my girl. I will tell this to you in strict confidence, as you know I am always frank with friends…

I am a businessman, and you know what is good for business? Wealthy customers, who are willing and able to spend money. Rodent-town is a good region for business – lots of mammals, lots of money, calm life… And it is not calm life when you have pick-pockets, or thieves, or other… not very clean characters in the area. So I make sure they are not there, and all my 80 shops in the area do well. And if some inhabitant of rodent-town does some… interesting business in other regions, well… this is a police matter is it not?

Does this answer your question?”

\- Yes, thank you…  
\- Good, good… Than I think we are all done.  
\- Sorry, Mr Big, one more question: Fru-Fru mentioned her friend and her 7 pups…  
\- Oh yes, they are one of the cases. My assistant will pass you the information we have… I told Fru-Fru they moved not to worry her, she is so fragile right now… Good bye.

 

The bears escorted them to the car and let them out near the central station not to attract unnecessary attention. The sun kept blaring from the cloudless sky.


	5. Playing with open cards

As they got into the patrol car, Judy felt another pang of guilt. Nick was fuming quietly all through the briefing and while in the clear and logical way it was completely unjustified, she still felt like she wronged him.

She started to drive. Prolonged silence was getting on her nerves, she was never very good at keeping dramatic silences.

\- Nick, I am sorry.  
\- Oh, really? What for?  
\- For… getting you into this odd meeting with Mr Big. It was not supposed to be like that, I don’t know why…  
\- Mr Big’s actions have noting to do with it!  
\- What? What are you angry on then?  
\- I’m not angry… I am dismayed, shocked even, that instead of coming to talk to me first, you went straight to Mr Big! What were you thinking?!  
\- Well, I sort of talked to Bogo a month ago about this, and I left a letter explaining where I was on my desk, so if anything happened, it would have been easy enough to pick up the trace…  
\- So hang on, let me get this straight: you have been leading some sort of investigation without telling me,  
\- No, I just…  
\- Then you talk to the Chief about it, and then you go to Mr Big, leaving a just in case note in the office. All of this without a word to the person you said you trust and work with every day! So much for partners then!  
\- Nick, you would’ve been the first to notice I am not there, to raise an alarm, if something happened, but I was sure it would all go fine! And it started like nothing!  
\- Look, Carrots, don’t you think that going straight to the mafia head is not a good idea unless you have a real pressing need?! Or maybe, I dunno, consulting someone first who has been on the other side of the law but who poses no threat to your security?! What if he iced you?!  
\- He had no reason…  
\- You don’t know his reasons, you don’t know anything about him!  
\- Well, turns out he keeps peace in the Rodent-town, does our work, in a way…  
\- Oh please, have you even heard what he told you?! He basically forbids his underlings to do their dirty work in the Rodent-town because this is where Big’s big customers and business partners are. They spend money in his shops, he gets rich, that’s all, and note, he has absolutely no problem with someone overstepping the law, just as long as it doesn’t harm his business, or even better, brings profit!  
\- So you knew about this, about the whole Rodent-town thing?!  
\- Of course, I did, you dumb bunny! And I’ll tell you who does as well – Chief Bogo. But he has nothing on Big and there are no crime complaints from the area, so all he can do is catch criminals in other areas. Which is what he is focusing on, and doing not all too bad at that. I could have told you all that if you had only asked!

A long silence followed… Judy’s droopy ears were looking especially sad, and by the her nose twitched, Nick could see that all this information was sinking into her, and with this new perspective she was getting angry with herself. He let her beat herself up internally for another couple of minutes and then asked her to park by the side of the road. She wordlessly pulled up and stayed sitting behind the wheel, still visibly upset. The fox got out of the car, marched towards the driver side door ad opened it – the poor bunny was on the verge of tears.

“There we go again…” – he unclipped her seatbelt and sat down next to her. The seat was easily big enough for them to sit side by side.

\- I did not say all that to make you cry, you know – he put his arm around her  
\- I know…I’m so…  
\- Look, we all make mistakes. Maybe I over-reacted. You’re not obliged to tell me everything you do, it’s just… I don’t want you to put yourself in danger. Especially if your partner is not by your side at that point.

Judy turned round and hugged him from the side. Her subs stopped and he could feel her breathing through his shirt. He put his arms and tail around her, as she hugged him a little tighter. It felt so right and calm, Judy did not want to let go, she could have stayed like that for a long time. Reluctantly she let go and looked up at Nick. He was not angry any more, he was just peaceful, absent-mindedly scratching her behind the ears.

Judy sighed and that sigh pulled Nick out of this magical dreamy state. They had to get back to work… He climbed back into his seat and smiled at Judy.

\- So, let’s start from the beginning – she said, turning the ignition of the car – what do we actually know?  
\- Well, there is a list of disappearances in the Rodent-town, but all look like people just went away.  
\- And Mr Big has no idea what is happening and he definitely does not have a hand in this  
\- You think it might be a rival? Someone trying to topple him?  
\- Well, that does not sound that far-fetched…  
\- I will ask around, but I doubt that. Finnick would have told me.  
\- Why would he?  
\- Because… well, remember when he was at my place on Saturday when you came?  
\- Yeah – the memory of scrubbing instant porcelain off Nick’s ears made her smile  
\- He did not just come to pour porcelain in my ears, he came to ask me to look into what was going on in Rodent-town. Their startup is struggling because there seems to be some sort of quiet panic in the are and customers worry more about their safety then about comfort at the moment. If it was gang war or a mafia conflict, Finnick would have known what is going on and not have come.  
\- So, you didn’t tell me everything either! You were also leading an investigation of your own!  
\- I haven’t even started thinking about it, I only got all this from Finnick that Saturday, and today is Monday! So no, and I would have told you… most probably. Anyway…  
\- Anyway, now we can join forces and take a look at all this. We shall even tall the Chief – we have two complaints from concerned citizens!  
\- True… And the citizens concerned are a mafia head and a con-turned-startup businessman, now if they are worried…  
\- It’s got to be serious, right!? – Judy smiled excitedly, which one probably should not do when talking of potential crimes.

Their conversation was interrupted with Nick’s phone buzzing. He clicked it on: a message from Finnick came up on the screen: “Need to talk. Let me know when and where.”


	6. Finnick is Worried

Nick texted Finnick back and agreed to meet at 8 in the evening at his place. He was not sure if Finnick’s need was more urgent, but the time seemed to suit his old partner just fine.

\- You know, you should come with me. Finnick probably has some important information, so if we are doing this together we should listen to our witnesses together.  
\- Sure. I’m thinking, do we have time to log this? If we don’t start on the paperwork now, it will accumulate and…  
\- Slow it down, Carrots. We might have some more information after this evening and then we can fill out the folder with all the details.  
\- You might be right… You maybe you’re just trying to put off doing it.  
\- Or maybe both – he couldn’t help but smile, she knew him too well.

Judy decided to quickly drop into her apartment before heading off to Nick’s to meet Finnick. She wanted to change out of her police uniform. And then half-automatically she started to pack a fresh uniform and her pajamas into her rucksack. When it was neatly packed in and she was heading to the bathroom to pick up her toothbrush, she suddenly paused.

“Why am I doing all this? Am I actually going to spend the night at Nick’s?” A tiny voice in her head was saying that it would be nice to have a full evening with him, not having to worry about getting the train back in time, not having to worry about anything at all… Her official line of argument was that she really did not know how this evening would turn out. They might go out and search for clues all night. “Or we might just stay in and cuddle” – suggested the tiny voice in her head. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind, tossed the toothbrush in and sprinted out of the apartment to catch the train.

She managed to get there early, half an hour before the time they agreed with Finnick and found Nick what seemed like the middle of hasty cleaning up.  
\- Sorry, I am a bit early.  
\- No, I am glad you’re here before he shows up… - she was beaming when she heard it, and Nick felt like he could melt.  
\- So… any idea about what he wants to talk about?  
\- No, he didn’t really say.

 

Nick was telling only half the truth. He texted Finnick when he got home warning him that he is joining forces with Judy to look into the case and asking what was the plan. Was he expecting just to talk, or to go somewhere in search of… something, whatever it might be, or what. Finnick didn’t give much detail, just said that he won’t take long and it would be just a chat, but then the conversation veered into some completely unrelated sort of direction.

Finnick – 6-25pm: “I’m ok with your girlfriend being there and helping out. She’s allright.”  
Nick – 6-35pm: “For the fifth time, she is not my girlfriend!”  
Finnick- 6-37pm: “Then what’s the problem? Ask her out already!”  
Nick – 6-37pm: “Why should I? Who said I like her?”  
Finnick- 6-38pm: “You don’t need to say it.”  
Nick – 6-50pm: “What if she says no?”  
Finnick- 6-50pm: “She won’t”  
Nick – 6-50pm: “It’ll ruin our friendship”  
Finnick- 6-50pm: “Ask her out”  
Nick – 6-50pm: “She’s my partner at work!”  
Finnick- 6-51pm: “Ask her out”  
Nick – 6-51pm: “She’s a bunny”  
Finnick- 6-51pm: “Ask her out.”  
Finnick- 6-51pm: “This copy-paste function is amazing!”  
Finnick- 6-51pm: “Ask her out”  
Finnick- 6-51pm: “Ask her out”  
Nick – 6-55pm: “I’ll think about it”  
Finnick- 7-00pm “I’m on my way”  
Finnick- 7-00pm: “Ask her out”

Nick cleared his throat  
\- He should be here on time…  
\- Well, in the meantime we can take a look at that file Mr Big gave us.

Nick brought the file and they started going through it. It looked like Big’s detectives have done a thorough job of finding out who the disappeared mammals were but have not found much to go on in their homes. They were either not trained to do this work, or there really was no clues, but Judy was not sure which one was more likely.

\- What do you think? Is there really no clues? Do you think they missed some?  
\- Well, they’re likely more trained in digging on people’s past then on detective evidence, but they seem pretty thorough. At least in their reporting…  
\- This is absolute disgrace, though.  
\- What? What are you talking about?  
\- A whole area of Zootropolis without a single cop! ZPD needs its own man in Rodent-town. We need a rodent inclusion programme!  
\- But… er… aren’t you technically a rodent? I mean, aren’t rabbits…?  
\- No! First of all look at my teeth! See, I have four incisors, while rodents have two. And there are loads of other differences. – She seemed bewildered. He really needed to brush up on mammal biology.  
\- So even better, two for one! – the moment it left his mouth, Nick knew he shouldn’t have said it.   
\- Seriously, I’m going to raise it with Bogo.  
\- And I will fully support you, honestly! – Nick tried his best to maintain a serious face.

Just as they read through the last of the seven disappearance cases, the doorbell rang. Nick opened the door, and Finnick came in, holding a massive pizza box in front of him.

\- Thought I might as well bring some dinner.  
\- Thanks, Finnick! That’s so thoughtful of you! – Judy smiled at Finnick as much as at the pizza. She just realized how hungry she actually was.  
\- Yeah, thanks, mate. Ok, let’s sit down and go through whatever news you brought.

They sat on the carpet, forming a circle around the pizza box. Finnick opened it and the aroma rushed into Judy’s nose with double strength. The fox clearly thought this out – 2/3 with meat and 1/3 with cheese, tomatoes and broccoli. She shot him a grateful look.

They started chewing  
\- So the news I bring is not good. – Finnick’s ears lowered down and he looked at his phone, lying on the carpet next to his feet, face up. He sighed.  
\- What happened?  
\- Kevin disappeared.  
\- Who?!  
\- The Hipster Hamster… Hamster Hipster? He always told me to use his brand name, as he calls it, to make sure it gets recognized, but his real name is Kevin. I called him on Saturday to tell I got new moulds, but he did not pick up. I called him and texted him on Sunday and today, and no reply. I even checked social media – no trace of him, and this guy instagramms every corn he eats! He makes like 10 posts a day, and now for three days – nothing!  
\- That is concerning…  
\- I left him a voicemail, but…  
\- Do you know where he lives?  
\- I found out, but he lives alone, so no one would have noticed his absence.

Suddenly, Finnick’s phone started buzzing. His ears shot up, he grasped the phone.  
\- Hello, who is this  
\- Finnick, it’s me, Kevin!  
\- Are you ok?! Where are you?!  
\- I’m… Well, not entirely sure, I’m calling from a payphone, and the coins will run out soon. There’s this sign, sorta hard to see… Go-Town?  
\- Goat Town, it must be Goat Town! – Judy’s sensitive ears picked up everything the hamster on the other end of the line was saying.  
\- Goat Town? – Finnick repeated into the phone.  
\- Yeah, that must be it. Could you please pick me up? I’ll stay hidden in the phone box.  
\- We’re on the way. – he shot a look at Judy  
\- In about an hour – she whispered  
\- Will be there in forty minutes – Finnick’s face was full of determination.

***

Judy did not think Finnick should’ve been driving but thought better of saying so. She and Nick were sitting jammed into the passenger sit in his truck and Judy was grateful that the road out of Zootropolis towards the suburbs was mostly straight, because otherwise they might have ended up upside down in the gutter. She could feel Nick was sharing her opinion, but being clearly a bit more used to Finnick’s driving style, he tried to act brave and held her paw, squeezing it a bit tighter when the car took another turn.

They got there in 35 minutes, and Finnick slammed on the brakes by the lonely phone booth. They jumped out of the car and came closer to the booth. Finnick knocked on the door

\- Kevin, it’s me. – he opened the door.

A white hamster wearing stripy shirt and probably the skinniest pair of jeans Judy has ever seen was sitting on top of the phone. One of the knees on his jeans was torn, the shirt was matted in dry dirt. He looked fragile.

\- Finnick! I am so glad to see you!  
\- Where have you been!? I was worried…  
\- It is a weird story. But… Can we go away from here? I’ll tell you everything in the car. – He must have just noticed Nick and Judy’s moving shadows as he nearly slid off from the phone box in panic  
\- Oh, Kevin, this is Nick and Judy – they’re my friends. – Come on, let’s get you out of here.


	7. The Hamster's Tale

They got into the car and the Hipster Hamster was sitting on one of Judy’s legs, so that the seatbelt would cover him as well. Finnick started driving.

\- Where are we going to? – asked Kevin, still looking a bit shaken  
\- I guess my place would be best – enough space for us all, and we still have a bit of pizza left – suggested Nick

Finnick grunted in agreement and seemed to have winked at Nick. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the van rushed into the darkness of the night. Kevin kept silent all the way and neither of them felt like pressing him into talking. The guy clearly needed a bit of time to compose himself. They got to Nick’s flat, microwaved the pizza and yet again got seated on the floor. Kevin nibbled on his bit as Finnick introduced Nick and Judy properly.

\- So, guys, this is my new business partner, Hipster Hamster…  
\- It’s OK if you just call me Kevin  
\- And Kevin, this is Nick, my ex business partner who is now with the ZPD and Judy who lured him there.  
\- Nice to meet you, Kevin – Judy smiled encouragingly at the hamster.  
\- I’ve heard of you! You’re the guys who figured out that case with the animals going savage! Didn’t know you were friends of Finnick.  
\- I told you I know everyone – the fennec fox smiled proudly – so I told Nick and Judy about the suspicious mood in Rodent-town and asked them to look into it.  
\- Oh, that would be great! Today was absolutely awful!  
\- It would be good if you could tell us about today in as much detail as possible – Nick suggested, as Judy darted for her pen and notepad.

Kevin finished off his pizza slice and started with his story:

“I live just on the outskirts of the Rodent-town, it’s a very residential street, very quiet. On Friday evening I got home a bit late – spent the day working at the studio, then went bowling with the guys… So by about 11pm, I think, I got to my front door and opened it and then… I am not sure what happened. I mean, my corridor is fairly dark and it was really dark outside, but it was absolutely pitch black. Well, I stepped into the corridor, but it felt like… the floor was not there! This sounds crazy, but it really wasn’t there, I just fell through into some sort of bag, I think. And then they sprayed something into the air because after a minute or so I just blanked out. I don’t really remember much, just that there was some sort of room and someone saying to get rid of me. I didn’t see who it was, but they said a very weird thing: “I know the type – eats a lot, never gains weight. Get rid of him” – I remember it very well because this is actually not true, it takes me a lot of effort to keep in shape…

And then they must have sprayed something onto me again, because all I remember then was car driving and being tossed out into the air. When I got out of the bag I was at the roadside, n some field, so I just walked towards the lights on the horizon and found this phone box… Luckily had a couple of coins in my pocket…”

\- Wow, that is an unusual story… - Nick looked thoughtful - and they stuff they knocked you out with must have been fairly strong, you've been missing for nearly three days...   
\- Three days!? You mean it's Monday evening?.. Anyway, I still don’t understand what they wanted from me! And I can’t think of anyone who would want to harm me! I mean, the only person who could do something like that is Mr Big, but he’s our chief investor, and he loves the product! He would not do something like that to us!  
\- Oh, that explains a few things. – Nick turned to Finnick – You know, when you ask someone to look into something for you, it is a good idea to provide all the important parts of the information!  
\- Didn’t seem relevant at the time…  
\- But you don’t think it was Mr Big?.. – Kevin stared at Nick in disbelief  
\- No, we don’t. We are quite sure it was not him, actually. – Judy cut in. – Kevin, do you think they drove you somewhere from Rodent-Town? Like, some place between your house and the Goat Town?  
\- Hmmm… I don’t think so. I am vary sensitive to being in a car, get sort of dizzy, so if it woke me up before they tossed me out, it would have woken me up if they had been driving before that. No, I think they just dragged me somewhere…  
\- Could you get us plans of Rodent-Town? I mean, street plans  
\- Yes, sure. A school friend of mine works in the planning office, I am sure I can get them for you tomorrow! Do you want the underground network too?  
\- What underground network?! – Judy’s ears shot up  
\- Well, there is a network of underground tunnels underneath Rodent-town. They vary in size, but the idea is that larger mammals can use them to deliver goods to Rodent-town, or do maintenance work when needed. Everyone knows that…  
\- I am still sort of new to Zootropolis. But yes, the plans of these would be very useful! Especially, if you could get the map with tunnel sizes and entrances marked.  
\- No problem, will bring them in tomorrow. – Kevin yawned and blinked heavily. – Do you think it is safe to go back to my place now? I could really use some sleep…  
\- You’re gonna stay with me till all of this is over – Finnick said matter of factly. - Not like we don’t have a lack of beds for you to sleep in…

He stood up, picked up the Hipster Hamster and sat him on his shoulder. 

\- Ok, guys, I think we shall call it a night. We’ll be back tomorrow with the street and underground plans of Rodent-town  
\- See you tomorrow! – Kevin waved good bye  
\- Bye! – Nick closed the door behind them.

He and Judy were left alone in the corridor.  
\- I should probably be going too… - Judy looked at her watch. It was almost midnight  
\- Come on, Carrots, I have plenty of room, you can sleep here.  
\- Well, I… - Nick’s green eyes were shining in the darkness of the corridor. Big green eyes piercing her, making her feel magnetized. – Ok, maybe it is a good idea. I do have a fresh uniform with me for tomorrow… I meant to leave it in the office, just in case, so I packed it in my rucksack… - Judy was angry on herself for blabbering, and finding excuses, and just being stupid  
\- See, how wonderfully this all worked out – Nick stepped into the light streaming from the room and she could see the green on is muzzle – do you want a t-shirt to sleep in?  
\- I, um… - No, telling him about the pajamas stuffed into her rucksack was too much. – Actually, yes, please, that would be great.

In a moment she brought back an intensely violet t-shirt. Judy changed into it quickly and discovered that it sat loosely on her and reached till about her knees, resembling somewhat of a shift dress.  
\- It suits you, goes well with the eyes – he looked at her smiling, and patted the place on the couch next to him.  
\- Thank you! – she climbed onto the couch and absent-mindedly leaned against his shoulder

Nick closed his eyes. “Ask her out, ask her out, ask her out!” He looked at Judy from the corner of his one eye. She also closed her eyes and let her ears fall, one of them landing on his back.

\- Nick  
\- Mmm?  
\- Thanks for putting me up for the night  
\- Any time, Carrots, any time

He let his hand go around her shoulders and moved her closer. She rested her hand and head on his chest, listening to his heart beat, swaying up and down with his breathing. “Now, I need to do it now!” – he lowered his nose towards her ears and touched one of them lightly. “Did she notice? Is she sleeping?” – he inhaled her smell, it was fresh and sweet and it felt like he could never get enough of it.

\- Do you think that hamster wanted to sleep in your ears too? – she said in a sleepy voice, not opening her eyes  
\- What?  
\- You know, Kevin, you told me he slept in Finnick’s ears…  
\- Oh that, well, no, I don’t think so. They’re probably too big…  
\- They’re perfect. I’d sleep in them, if I could. But I wouldn’t fit, of course.  
\- Well, you can sleep next to them – he must be dreaming this. Is this how bunnies flirt? – and get a tail as a compensatory bonus. – Nick wrapped his tail around her  
\- I’ll take that. – “Judy, what are you doing?!” – she pushed that question out of her mind.

She curled up around him a little tighter as he slid on his side, pulling a throw on top of them and flicking the lights off.  
\- Nick? Are you asleep?  
\- Mm, almost.  
\- Is this a dream?  
\- Yeah, don’t wake up.


	8. Dig Deeper

Nick woke up to the high-pitched noise of the alarm clock. He fumbled with his phone to switch it off, gradually realizing that he was actually not in his bed but on the couch, events of last night coming back to him. Only Judy was not next to him. And the flat smelled of something delicious.

\- Good morning, sleepyhead – she was still wearing Nick’s t-shirt  
\- Morning, Carrots  
\- What do you think of pancakes for breakfast?  
\- Mm, I don’t really think of them cause I don’t know how to make them  
\- Well, I woke up quite early, so I took the liberty to make us some…  
\- Bring it on! – Nick was greening enthusiastically. He could almost jump from the relief: not only has she not disappeared after yesterday, but she was actually acting… normal, like this is how they woke up every day.

Nick disappeared in the bathroom. As he splashed cold water onto his muzzle he looked into the mirror. “Haven’t seen you that happy in while” – he told his reflection.

He marched to the kitchen as Judy was putting the last pancake onto a small pile already on the plate. They were thin, crispy on the edges, steaming in the morning light.

\- So, how about pancakes with cheese and dill?  
\- Er… I usually eat them with chocolate paste, but hey, first time for everything, right?  
\- Well, I hope you like this version too. You know, I love the smell of dill, it’s… intoxicating, like you can’t get enough of it. And it basically grows like weed, no effort needed at all!  
\- Sounds like you’ve found your legal high – she chuckled at that  
\- Shhh, don’t tell anyone! So… - she took one pancake from the pile and put it on his plate, sprinkled a generous amount of cheese and dill on it and rolled it up. – now take a bite!

He took the pancake tube up and smelled it. It did smell good – he took a bite ad started chewing, feeling the now melted cheese and herb spreading in his mouth. She was right, it really was tasty!

\- Judy, this is something! Thanks a lot for cooking it! This might be my new favorite way to have breakfast! – He greened at her, taking another bite  
\- Pancakes with cheese and dill? – she looked up from rolling her own  
\- And you to share them with – he was not sure how that tumbled out of his mouth, his ears grew hot. She raised one eyebrow at his words, but was still smiling   
\- I can give you the recipe, it is very easy, really… – Judy was trying to process what Nick just said. Did he actually mean he wanted to have breakfasts with her?!  
\- So next time I can cook, you just need to be here to eat them – he greened at her, hoping it looked easy and confident, as it always did. He was trying to be bold, Finnick’s texts as a refrain on his mind.  
\- I… m-might take you up on that offer – she was sure Nick could feel her blush, could sense the heat in her ears. Yet, the prospect of waking up next to a certain charming fox every morning was appealing. Falling asleep hugged by the same charming fox the night before even more so. She tried to tell herself there was absolutely nothing wrong with it and not think too much of the potential ramifications of this at work and with her family. The first one she was pretty sure she could manage; the second… the second one might be a bit harder to crack.

They finished off their breakfast, quickly dressed and headed out to the office. Judy was insistent that they should let Chief Bogo know about what is going on right away. Nick generally did not object to letting him know, but though they might want to not tell him of some details. However, Judy was adamant. She agreed that in the reports they should not use Mr Big’s name and just mention that they got the folder from an anonymous source, but the Chief had to know everything. It was a matter of building trust with him, as well as a question of being generally honest in their work, and gradually Nick had to agree that she was right.

Judy let the way to the Chief’s office and knocked on the door.  
\- Come in – something in Bogo’s voice told Nick that he knew it was Judy. Maybe because a lot of other officers were on holiday, maybe because others did not really venture into his office unless being called.  
\- Morning Chief! – Judy was getting more excited and there was no way she could hide it, those perky ears would betray any her attempt to play it cool  
\- Morning, officers. So, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you before the general briefing? – he gestured to the two chairs in front of his desk indicating them to sit down.  
\- Sir, we have received three reports from concerned citizens regarding the situation in Rodent-town.  
\- Tell me this is not because you are trying to prove me we need a rodent-inclusion program. – Nick stifled a laugh at those words and Bogo shot him a ‘yeah, I know my people well look’, - And for the record, we might need it, but right now there is no budget to start one. So tell me, how serious are those concerns?  
\- I am afraid they are pretty serious, Chief – it was Nick’s turn to talk – one of them is from a hamster who got abducted last Friday  
\- And the other one is from Mr Big – Judy placed the brown folder in front of Chief Bogo  
\- Now this is interesting – he said, thoughtfully looking at them.

Judy and Nick briefed the Chief about their plan to go over the map of Rodent-Town streets and tunnels with Kevin, and then potentially go investigate. Bogo had no objections – after all Judy and Nick were the smallest mammals on the force, so had a clear advantage in accessing at least parts of Rodent-town. He also suggested Judy talks to the council of the Rodent-town and ensures they communicate the need to be vigilant to all the inhabitants.

\- Yeah, and keep Clawhouser in the loop through the radio.  
\- Will do! Thanks Chief! – Judy hopped of the chair, eager to start  
\- Officer Wilde?  
\- Yes, sir?  
\- Do make sure you take proper notes on your investigation.  
\- Will do, sir.

***

\- Finnick will drop Kevin off with the plans here in an hour, he just texted me – Nick looked up from his phone  
\- Excellent, enough time for us to fill in all the paperwork with details we already know – Judy was arranging the papers on her desk, clearly prepared to start on the task Nick hated most in his job. There were just two he hated, actually – paperwork and parking duty, which he thought was not bad at all. – How about you read out the question on the form, we formulate the answer and you type it in?

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, but agreed nevertheless. He loved working with Judy.

***

Judy called the council of the Rodent-town and went from the secretary to the Communications team, back to the secretary, then to the Deputy Councilor’s assistant, then to the Deputy Councilor and then finally to the Councilor himself. Relaying the reason for her call for the fifth time she was trying to convince herself that at least they were not all sloths. That it could be worse. The Rodent-town authorities were at least quick to pass her around and quick to ask questions, even though the questions they all asked were pretty much the same. After an hour of conversations, they finally agreed that Judy would come to the main square, to address the inhabitants of the town in person, while the authorities would run an urgent newsletter and message all residents. She agreed with the Councilor to be at the main square at 2pm, a special route would be worked out for her to pass through the town causing minimal disturbance.

When she finished the conversation, Nick has was adding the final sticker indicating the places where the disappearances happened. Kevin and his friend from the town’s planning department were helping to compile the notes and make sure the stickers stood in the correct places on both the under- and over-ground plans. As they finished off the mapping, Nick and Judy stepped back and tried to take in the scene.

\- Well, one thing is clear: all the disappearances happen in the houses accessible by big tunnels. A bear or a buffalo might get a bit claustrophobic in there, but for a tiger, or a wolf would be absolutely fine. – ventured Nick  
\- Agree… And they all have removable hatches – chipped in Judy  
\- Trouble is, half of the houses in the city have these parameters!  
\- They don’t have any pattern for choosing victims by species, age or profession… But all the disappearances are not too far away!  
\- Well, depends on your size – for a rodent this is quite a way – Kevin’s gaze kept wandering from his house to those of the other victims and back.  
\- You know, it almost looks like they are based towards the east of the town. Look, the first victim’s house is east-most, and then it is as if they have been increasing the radius a bit with every next abduction. Kevin’s house is the most West-wards – Judy scribbled down her new observation into their case file.  
\- Hmmm, you might be right… It is like they are… hunting for the victims – Nick’s ears dropped, he was uncomfortable with approaching the subject while being the only predator in the room, but then that was the advantage of having him in the room as well – a different perspective. – This is exactly how history books describe the ancient hunting techniques. And to be honest, the strategy makes sense…

Nick tailed off and they stood in front of the map in silence for a couple of minutes.  
\- Err, do you guys need us anymore? Cause if no, we’d rather get back to work… - Kevin asked, as his fried, whose name Judy never managed to catch, nodded frantic agreement  
\- Thanks, I think we got all the information we needed from you for now. You both were of great help! – Judy smiled at them warmly  
\- And if you could do us one more favor… Don’t tell anyone the details of what you herd here, ok? – the hamsters nodded energetically in agreement to Nick’s proposal.  
\- We’ll let you know how it goes.  
\- My regards to Finnick!

When the hamsters left, Nick turned to Judy:  
\- Well, I will go down to the tunnels, starting with Kevin’s house and working my way backwards, and you can join me once you are done dealing with the public  
\- Agreed. Let me know if you find anything!  
\- And Carrots… Promise me to remember the question answering technique, ok? – he greened at her


	9. Smells like trouble

Nick took the train to the stop nearest to the entrance to the maintenance tunnel leading to Kevin’s flat. As he described, the place was on the outskirts of the Rodent-town, where anyone approaching the area could see how the buildings gradually shrunk to connect with the neighboring areas of Zootropolis. The midday sun was blaring out of the sky and Nick felt like he was gradually cooking in his own skin, he definitely needed to get some water before he ran out of shops into which he could actually enter or risk passing out somewhere in the middle of this investigation. He looked around and realized that he probably thought of getting the water a bit too late – the only place of the prevailing Zootropolis architecture – that is welcoming anyone from the size of the elephant to the smallest mouse was a big cosmetics store. It was not ideal, but Nick was pretty sure they sold bottled water as a standard stock item, so he headed for the entrance decorated with balloons and some sort of promotional posters. Nick pulled the door and stepped into the building.

“Pshhhhhht!” – he herd the sound of a sprayer getting released somewhere, only to realize a second later that it was released onto him. A strong smell of dill filled his nostrils.  
\- What the…? – he made another step and felt another spray land on his fur.  
\- Oh my god, another one! – Nick turned in the direction of the voice and saw a young bunny girl, clearly one of the store promoters, staring at him in quiet shock. 

Nick waved at her, she waved back. This was getting ridiculous. He was just about to make a step towards her when he saw another shop assistant rushing to the scene.  
\- Sir, I am sorry, but could you please stay where you are for now?  
\- Errr, yes, but…  
\- I am just going to switch this off… - she was fumbling with some switches at the side of the entrance. She turned to the bunny girl – This is the third one this morning, Carry! The third one! How many times do I need to tell you to put the customer information at eye-level?!  
\- But I did…  
\- At different eye levels! We are in a central store, all mammals come here, and of course they use the most noticeable door, and as a result without any warning whatsoever, they get sprayed with our new perfume! Do you think it is ok to spray a tiger with Carrots and Dill perfume without their explicit consent?! And I bet you, that wolf mother of three was not particularly happy either, you know.  
\- Well, her pups seemed to enjoy it…  
\- Yeah, let’s see how a fox enjoyed it today, shall we?!

Nick kept standing on one leg, wobbling slightly and trying to process what has actually happened. “Carrots and Dill perfume – this is ironic, and today of all mornings” – he mused to himself, a bewildered smile spreading on his muzzle, - “well, at least I have a reason to see the irony, I bet that tiger did not!” – he chuckled at the thought, finally lost his balance and put another paw down to hear another ‘Pshht!’ as the machine finally stopped. Frankly, he did not think it made any difference at this point.

\- Sir, we are so sorry! Would you like to use our showers? It looks like we sprayed you quite a bit…  
\- No, I’m afraid I don’t have time for that, but if you could give me a bottle of water, that would be great.  
\- Oh yes, sure! – one of the girls darted to get the bottle - Anything else?  
\- No, thanks, I think that is quite enough for now. - he turned round and stepped out of the shop.

“Excellent start of the investigation. Nickolas P Wilde, you have seriously exceeded yourself today!” – he was bemused by what just happened, but the memories of this morning somehow made it all seem more funny then stupid. “Yeah, find out what her favorite smell is, and the providence makes sure you get drenched in it. If this is not a sign, I don’t know what it!” – he smiled to himself, as he opened the hatch on the street he found earlier on the map and started going down into the tunnel.

\- Clawhouser?  
\- Yes, I’m right here.  
\- Just checking in – I am going down the tunnel near the last kidnapping spot – it’s number one on the map.  
\- Which map?  
\- I dropped you a map when I was heading out. It’s right next to the phone! You couldn’t have missed it.  
\- Oh, this map – Nick could hear the sound of paper being rolled out as Clawhouser spread it on his table – yep, got it. Found dot one… Ok, you just keep talking and I’ll mark where you are on the plan, just in case you get lost.  
\- Ok then, heading straight towards number 2…

***

Judy was walking past the shrinking buildings of Rodent-town to the central square. Somehow, the task that seemed easy at the beginning of the day looked harder by the minute. The Counselor’s secretary e-mailed her the route and mentioned that there would be a small pull of journalists from the local papers to cover the issue and aid communication. “Oh no,” – she thought to herself, - “not the press, please… Why did it have to be me? Nick is so much better answering these tricky questions without putting his foot into his mouth…” But there was no way back, so she braced herself and decided to do her best imitation of his answering technique.

Of course, this was easier said then done. The Counselor did not really help matters – they just attached a couple of microphones to her shirt collar and ears and asked her to speak clearly and not move too much not to accidentally knock anything over. They also asked her to switch off her walkie-talkie and phone to make sure there is no interference with the microphones. She let Clawhouser know about this forced radio silence and said she’ll be back on right after the announcement. She thought of texting Nick about this, and the journalists and about how she wished she was with him but thought better of it – he was, after all, on the task himself and needed to concentrate and search the place for clues, not read her texts.

\- … It is important to stay vigilant. Turn on the light and be attentive to your surroundings. We would also urge you to report any suspicious activity or instances to the police.  
\- Have you been able to identify the actual threat?  
\- Um… - Judy tried hard to think how Nick would answer this question – Are we reviewing the situation? Yes, we are. We have an extended team working on it right now, – technically, this was not a lie: her and Nick were a team and Clawhouser on the walkie-talkie counted as an extension.  
\- Officer Hopps!  
\- I am afraid this is all the information we can share with you at this point. Thank you for your attention and cooperation.

She nodded to the Councilor and removed the microphones from her collar. If she wanted to keep it to minimum damage, this was definitely the time to stop, she anyway did not have much to say. The whole press conference (which is what her meeting really turned out to be) was absolutely unnecessary, the council could have given it all tot hem himself, but something told Judy he did not want to get involved into anything that might not look favorable or positive.

Judy walked back to the outskirts of the Rodent-town and switched her walkie-talkie and the mobile on.

\- Clawhouser, hey!  
\- Judy!  
\- Yeah, it’s me, just checking in… How’s it going?  
\- Well… We have a bit of a problem. Nick stopped responding to my messages half a hour ago.   
\- Oh, where was he last?  
\- Just past point 3 on that map. And he was checking in like every 10-15 minutes, you know, sort of at every turn or fork in the tunnel, but for 32 minutes already it is just silence. It might be just lack of connection, but …  
\- I’m on my way there – she pulled up the scan of the map on her phone and zoomed in on point-3.


	10. Walk in another’s shoes

Nick climbed down into the tunnel and pinged Clawhouser. The cheetah did find the map Nick left on his desk after all. That was a relief because Nick definitely was not planning to get lost in these tunnels. Of course, if it came to the worst, he could just try and always take one direction, say turn left, and eventually come across a ladder to the surface, but it might take him some time to find one and it might turn out to lead to pretty much anywhere in Zootropolis.

With the map scan on his phone and a bit of Clawhouser’s help, Nick managed to navigate to the hatch below Kevin’s house. Upon inspection, he could see that it was definitely recently moved – the mould was scratched and at some places there seemed to be claw marks, or some sort of marks at least that indicated effort. Neither of the movable hatches of the neighboring houses had such markings.

“What a weird way to build,” – he mused to himself – “On one hand, it is understandable – easy to construct, to do the plumbing, to deliver supplies, but on the other hand, having your house stand almost entirely on a hatch that can be just removed at any time is, well, insecure in hindsight and probably just very strange. Although, most of them might just forget about this construction feature, or see it as so completely normal they never give it a second thought.”

Nick reported his finds to Clawhouser and moved on to spot-2, telling the cheetah on the other end what turns he was taking. The tunnels were quiet, with occasional dropping water ruining the perfect stillness of the underground. He noted that the maintenance lights mostly worked, which was surprising taking into account he has not met one delivery vehicle and not one single maintenance team so far. Well, maybe middle of the day was not that popular, it might be that most of the traffic happened in the morning.

The second-latest disappearance spot showed similar signs – disturbed mould, some scratches on the hatch itself, only these were not looking quite like claws, more like hoof marks. Nick was not sure, it was somehow very hard to imagine a sheep, or maybe a goat inside these tunnels. He duly reported his findings to Clawhouser and proceeded to point 3. There the markings were similar, but just as Nick finished his report to Clawhouser and put his walkie-talkie on silent, he noticed something at the end of the tunnel. 

He was not sure what possessed him at that moment, maybe some sort of old con-artist instincts trickled back into his brain but he quickly pinned his badge off and hid it in his pocket, took off his shirt and tied it loosely around his hips. This way he must have looked like a lousy maintenance worker. Lousy because he had no hard hat (were they even required?), but not too bad because, hey, who would hire a complete looser to work in the tunnels of a fairly affluent region.

Nick approached the moving figures quietly. The lights in this are were working only partly, so he could approach without revealing his presence too quickly. Two rather large shadows were heatedly discussing something in hushed tones. Nick strained his hearing…

\- And I’m telling you that’s not enough! Look, why do we only catch one at a time? They’re so small it takes bloody ages to fatten them up!  
\- Because if too many disappear too quickly, rumors will spread. They’re already spreading!  
\- I don’t care. I got into this because they promised a feast. And it’s been weeks, Garry, and I’m yet to taste anything else then cheap fish cotlets they keep in that fridge…  
\- Look, you’ve got to be patient, meat takes time to grow.  
\- Yeah, right, being patient is all I do.

Nick could not quite make out what the two looked like, but what he herd was concerning enough. He wished he had a recorder pen, like the one Judy had, only maybe not in the form of a carrot. Hell, even a carrot would’ve been good now. He would need to ask her where she bought it. As the pair walked down the tunnel Nick edged closer and noticed that one of them had something in a tied up canvas bag they were carrying over the shoulder. The pair kept walking down the tunnel in silence, so he could not really report to Clawhouser without being noticed, so he just followed them…

Suddenly, he stepped onto something, it cracked and the noise echoed off the concrete tunnel walls. The pair stopped and turned around. Nick cursed. Actually, he cursed aloud and looked down as if to see what has made that noise. It was the time to play that role of the lousy maintenance technician.

\- Who’s there? – the bigger shape of the couple asked  
\- Oh, hello. Pipe and Co mainte… - Nick did not have a chance to finish his sentence as in a matter of seconds the smaller shape, which turned out to be a cheetah was upon him. The last thing Nick could see was the nuzzle of a sprayer pointed right into his nose.

The spray did not knock him out completely. Not for long anyway, but as he came around he realized that he was tied up, his mouth gagged and he was currently being transported through the maze of tunnels in a… wheelbarrow, was it? He was not entirely sure, and he dared not open the eyes to let his captors know he came around. Sometimes it is better to pretend you are completely unconscious, especially if there is nothing you can really do at that point. He felt the canvass bag by his knees – something soft and not too heavy was inside it.

\- The fox looks familiar  
\- Dunno, I don’t know any foxes  
\- I have a feeling I know him from somewhere… Isn’t he the guy who trades pawpsicles? You know, he used to stand by the bank entrance.  
\- So? He must’ve found a better way to trick people into giving him money. – at this point Nick was somewhat glad he made a reputation as a con artist. After all, things might have turned out worse if these two knew he was with the ZPD.  
\- Well, not he’s gonna do that anymore. I think we should just eat him – no witness, no suspicions, no problems.  
\- What!? Eat him? That’s not our concept, you know.  
\- Why not? A bit more diversity on our table would not hurt, and there’s no need to wait and fatten him up – he’s already big enough. An instant meal, man! Could be out first meal, already today. – Nick could swear he could hear the cheetah swallow greedily.

As the wheelbarrow kept rolling along the tunnel Nick tried to process what he just herd. “How could this be possible?! Are they actually kidnapping the rodents to eat them? And not right away, apparently, because they try and make them gain some weight to get more return for their, ahem, efforts.” - it sounded horrifying. The thought that he might get eaten himself, and even today, was even more scary. He never considered himself as prey, never thought he could hypothetically be eaten, that some of his ancestors might have been eaten. This sounded ridiculous, who the hell eats foxes?! But now, tied up, gagged and tossed into a wheelbarrow, he was suddenly faced with this perspective.

“Bloody hell, if this is how all prey feel from time to time, I can understand how Bellwether was hoping to get them on her side. I even somewhat understand the Fox-repellent. I wouldn’t mind having some right now, it might just work on jaguars!.. My god, a small number of nutters can really distort your world view…” – in the meantime they seemed to have arrived at their destination. Nick got tossed out and landed somewhere in a dimly lit corner, he felt the canvass bag lifted from the wheelbarrow, herd the door clink open and close again. He was alone and absolutely helpless. The only part of his body that could move freely was his tale. Nick, twisted, managed to turn and ended up laying curled up on his side, facing the door, shadow mostly hiding him from the view.

About twenty minutes later the door opened again, and an already familiar jaguar, a sheep and a red squirrel came out.  
\- Bring the new one into the pan, make sure he eats every hour. – the squirrel said in a cool, controlling voice. He seemed to be in charge.  
\- When are we gonna eat them? – the Jaguar’s voice enquired  
\- When they’re ready.  
\- And what about him? – the jaguar nodded in the direction of the corner where Nick was  
\- I don’t care about him, he knows nothing and he’s not my problem.  
\- Can we eat him?  
\- Hmm… I need to think about it. I will decide and tell you tomorrow. Now out of my sight and on to business. – the squirrel disappeared behind the door, the jaguar and the sheep took the neighboring tunnel, leaving Nick abandoned in his corner.

“Ok, one day. I have one day to get the hell out of here. Or maybe even less. Shit.”


	11. Find me

Judy found the street hatch opening nearest to point-3 quite quickly. Luckily it was big enough for her to get in, and yet she paused. She was standing on a quiet square, her back to the semi-circle of the bushy greenery, looking at the sparse midday traffic of Rodent-town passing by the other side of the square. Thankfully, there were few pedestrians so she was neither attracting much attention, nor causing disturbance to the residents. This was possibly the best place to collect her thoughts. Judy worked best when she had a plan, so before she headed down, she needed to figure out what she was actually going to do.

“If Nick was checking in regularly and then just went quiet, there are two possible scenarios: one – his walkie-talkie stopped working, went out of battery, or signal, or whatever else went wrong with it, and two – he could not update Clawhouser because… well, he might be in pursuit, but not willing to get himself discovered, or someone might be preventing him from doing so.” – this was an unsettling thought.

“And then there is option three, of course, not reporting on purpose. Discovering that it was his buddies and bending the rules a little…” – Judy hated herself for coming up with option three. She thought… no, she knew Nick would never do something like that in a case as serious as this. He might overlook some parking offences, or speeding, but he definitely, definitely would not let the kidnappings go just like that. “And Finnick would not have come over for help, he would have known! Which means it is definitely not option three. This brings us back to option two…”

\- Clawhouser? Benj, hello? - Judy pinged Clawhauser on the walkie-talkie  
\- Yeah, I’m here, I’m here! – the cheetah sounded like he was chewing something  
\- No news from Nick?  
\- No… Where are you? Are you already in the tunnels?  
\- No, just about to head down. I’ve been thinking: Nick must have been silent for a reason, so did he by chance mention that his walkie-talkie battery was dying or anything else of that sort?  
\- No, and he sounded completely fine! You usually can always hear that the battery is dying, I mean, it makes the voices sound quieter, and Nick definitely came in loud and clear.  
\- So he had a reason then. Maybe he did not want to alert someone of his presence, or he was talking to suspects and did not want them to hear his reports to you.  
\- That is a possibility… - Clawhouser’s voice grew pensive – And that means you might run into the same problem.  
\- Yes, I’ve been thinking about that. What if I leave my walkie-talkie on, but turn the sound off? That way you would be able to hear everything, but I would not be able to hear you unless I turn the sound on.  
\- That is not a bad idea… And for situations when you would like to keep quiet, but need to communicate, we can use a system of clicks.  
\- Clicks? – Judy realized she did not think about the way of keeping silence and yet giving Benjamin a message at the same time. She might have underestimated Clawhouser – he clearly was thinking things through and sometimes faster then she did.  
\- Yeah, because the microphone is so sensitive you would just need to tap on it with your claw. It would still be loud enough for me, but quiet for anyone else. Say, you tap twice every couple of minutes when everything is fine.  
\- And tap many times when something goes wrong and I need backup!  
\- Yeah, but it still does not solve the problem completely because I would not know where you are! I wish they gave us some sort of GPS trackers… I mean, in the modern day and age, when most phones have it, you’d think…  
\- Hang on, you’re right! Most phones have it! We will just use my personal phone!  
\- And how are we going to do that exactly?  
\- I have this app on my phone, you know, in case I loose it, where I can log in and it will show me where the phone is on the map. It is precise up to a couple meters, but it is still better then nothing! You’ll just need to log in as me.  
\- Oh, Judy, why didn’t I think of that! Where do I log in?  
\- Right, so go to the MewPhone web site, click log in…  
\- Mmm, right.  
\- Log in is Judy.Hopps@tails.com, password is Carrotcake123, with a capital C  
\- Really, Judy, this is not a very secure password. Ok, now the secret question…

\- Yeah, select the “memorable place” one and type in… type in SkyCar, capital S, capital C – she was hoping Clawhouser would not be asking questions as to why this is such a memorable place. She really did not feel like explaining that this was her first thought when she updated the log in details a couple of months ago, and how she was starting to realize that this place was not just special because it took such a central place in her first investigation, but also because it was where Nick showed his real self to her for the first time.

\- Aaand, I’m in! Are you now on a little square with some sort of greenery around it?  
\- Yep, that’s it. I am going down now.

Judy climbed down the ladder and found herself in a tunnel dimly lit with yellow maintenance lights. She looked at the map scan in her phone and started off in the direction of point 3, after reporting from which Nick disappeared.

“Benj, I am on my way to point 3, so far it seems absolutely deserted” – Judy quietly proceeded along the tunnel. The silence was almost deafening, only occasionally punctuated by distant sounds of dripping water. She soon reached the place and looked at the hatch. As Clawhouser mentioned, there were some markings on it, there was no doubt that it has been recently moved. What was strange, though, was the smell. It was not until she nearly reached the spot that she noticed it, so it was not a common smell of the tunnels.

\- Benj, I’m just looking around Point 3 – Judy put the sound on her walkie-talkie up just enough to hear Clawhouser on the other side.  
\- Roger that  
\- Did Nick mention anything about the smell?  
\- No. What smell? Are you smelling gas?! – the cheetah was clearly alarmed. Smelling gas in the tunnels under Rodent-town would not be a good thing, definitely not.  
\- No, no, not that sort of smell. It’s… dill?  
\- Uh, ok… I, um… to be honest, I am not entirely sure how it smells…  
\- It has a distinct smell, it is actually one of my favorite smells, so trust me it is dill. Only I don’t get why it would be here.  
\- Delivery transporting it to the nearest restaurant passed by there, perhaps?  
\- Possible, but not likely – what restaurant would buy dill only and no other herbs? And if there had been other herbs, their smells would be here too, but there is just dill. And… don’t laugh, but it smells like it’s artificial dill.  
\- The plot thickens! – despite himself Clawhouser snorted on the other end – But seriously, Judy, you’re the expert here.  
\- Well, you know in those doughnuts that you buy there are some strawberry ones.  
\- Err, yeah, and?  
\- And they don’t really smell like strawberries. Close, but not like them, you know they are not real. You know what I mean?  
\- Hmm, I suppose you are right. I never really thought about that before, but you are right, there is a difference.  
\- Yeah, so same thing but for dill. And you know what is interesting? It seems like it is present in the tunnel from which you mentioned Nick came to this spot, but is less then at the spot itself, and it is a bit more intense in that tunnel where you said he headed off after looking at this spot.  
\- Ok, I have noted it down. Are you going to follow it then?  
\- I will try to, yes. So far this is our only clue, if I can even call it that… Putting you back on silent, ok?  
\- Ok

Judy proceeded quietly along the tunnel. A strange thought that she, in essence, was picking up a smell trail, passed through her head. Bunnies never picked up smell trails, but then she never minded being the first one to do something. She kept tapping twice every couple of minutes to let Clawhouser know everything was fine, but decided to refrain from talking for now, just in case.

Judging by the map, she was moving further and further to the East, which was just as Judy expected. She soon realized that she was nearing the border of the Rodent-town, and yet the smell was still strong, so she just followed it on. It was surprising, really, how well it stuck as she’d expect tunnel ventilation to get rid of it much quicker. There was also hardly any traffic in the tunnels and she took extra care to move as silently as she could, stopping at any scratch or creak she would hear.

She crossed the border of Rodent-town and proceeded moving through the tunnels of Zootropolis. The problem was she only had the scan of tunnels of the Rodent-Town on her phone with just a few fringes of the tunnels for the neighboring areas, so she was bound to run out of the navigation aids and very soon, her only consolation was that for the other areas of the city the tunnels tended to be bigger in size, but not at al numerous, so hopefully Clawhouser would be able to find the needed plans or at least was still keeping up with her progress on the screen through the phone app.

Suddenly, she heard steps not too far off. Judy froze and strained her eyes looking up and down the tunnel, but there seemed to be no one there. The steps were getting closer and she suddenly realized that whoever it was, they were walking in a neighboring tunnel – she remembered there being a couple of parallel tunnels running at some parts, but they would always eventually come to merge…

\- You know what, Garry? I don’t care what Squirelli says anymore!  
\- Mmm? – the second voice was quieter and Judy was not sure if there was any sort of reply, or somebody just grunted in response  
\- If we need to wait for the main feat, fine, but we are gonna have him tonight. I’ve waited enough, and I don’t really give two hoots about whether it fits into his concept or not. It’s meat on bones, so it fits into mine. I’ll talk to Thickhorn, you talk to Fangers  
\- Ok, but are we gonna even tell Squirelli? I don’t ant to cross him, never a good idea to cross him…  
\- Oh, we’re not gonna cross him, we’re gonna make him a surprise.  
\- But you said he said tomorrow…  
\- Well, that’s the point of the surprise – it will be today! And he doesn’t need to do aaaanything…

The footsteps passed the spot where Judy stood, whoever they belonged to now walked in silence. She could hear every single word loud and clear and was just hoping that the walkie-talkie was sensitive enough to pick it all up as well. Somehow she felt like this conversation might be connected to the disappearances, even though it was hard to explain why.

She tapped on the walkie-talkie twice with her claw and proceeded along the tunnel following the smell.

***

Nick thought heard someone approaching and opened his eyes lightly to take a look at who that might be but could not see anyone. The sound of footsteps also seemed to no longer be there. “Well, this is great” – he thought to himself, - “now I started hearing things! These ropes must be preventing my blood circulation, the brain does not get enough, or maybe gets too much and I can clearly no longer think straight!” He kept surveying the space, though… Suddenly he saw some movement in one of the tunnel openings. Quietly thanking his excellent night vision he tried to make out the shape of the animal.

“Ok, so clearly someone relatively small… And moving quietly but quickly… Hang on a moment, is this really… Judy?! She found me, she found me!!” – Nick had to control his tail from shooting up – no need to signal her approach to anyone, or his presence to anyone if it was not really her. “No, this is definitely her. How does she always manage to save my sorry ass?”

Nick could now definitely see it was Judy, so he waived his tail lightly making it easier to spot him – he knew her night vision was passable, but not as good as his. With surprising speed even for Judy she rushed to him. Nick felt her paws searching through his body, tugging at the ropes, hear ears occasionally touching his muzzle as she moved.

\- Ni… - she whispered, but Nick tried to shove his tail into her mouth to stop her talking and pointed at the door with his eyes. 

Her eyes were big in the darkness, of a much deeper color, her nose twitched as she tried to focus and decide what to do next… Absurdly, all Nick could think of was that this amazing mammal came here for him, looking for him. There were very few such mammals in his life, at the moment just two to be precise, and he was not sure of the dedication of Finnick would have stretched quite that far as to risking being eaten.

“Eaten… Hang on, she probably does not know! And if these crooks were considering eating a fox, somehow a side dish of a bunny does sound very much like them. My god, could they not send in someone, anyone with less chances of being eaten?!” He tried to figure out what Judy was doing with the ropes – she seemed to try to undo them with her paws, but that clearly did not work, so she kneeled behind him and started… nibbling at them?! If his mouth was not gagged, he would have asked her what the hell she was doing, but his muzzle expression was probably readable enough for her to notice. She straightened up a bit, smiled broadly at him and winked. She then proceeded nibbling on the rope.

“What…?” – he did not have a chance to finish the thought as with the quiet pop the rope gave and suddenly his shoulders and hands felt a little more free. It finally dawned on Nick: “She was chewing through the ropes! And of course with those four incisor teeth, she was pretty quick. That is why they knock the rodents out with that spray! Just rope and bags would not be able to contain them!”

At that point he heard something. Judy’s ears shot up, as she was peering from behind his side also trying to locate the source of the sound. He had to think quickly, so he rolled onto his other side, curling around her and putting his tail on top of her, making sure to push her ears down. He did not want anyone to notice her presence here, and a pair of bunny’s ears sprouting from a fox was just bound to raise suspicions. He was in the dimly lit corner, but still, no need to attract attention…

The steps seemed to be nearing them, someone has entered the room, sighed and opened the door with a creak. The door shut behind them and Nick breathed out with relief. He did not risk removing his tail from Judy, he just stayed curled up with her, feeling the warmth of her body.

Only when Nick curled around her Judy noticed that, strangely, he was not wearing his shirt. For some reason it was tied around his hips, while his torso was lying on the cold ground, fur getting dirty and Nick probably getting cold. He had really soft fur, so beautifully ginger… She could not let it distract her, yet she could not move much in fear of being discovered. Ending up tied up next to him was definitely not part of her rescue plan. Judy decided to use this time getting rid of the gag in Nick’s mouth. She could see he was uncomfortable with it, a bit of saliva pooled on the spot where he was laying before, his tongue moved periodically, as if trying to get round it, and she could see his teeth glinting in the dim light. She brought her muzzle close to his cheek and started making inroads into the rope and rubber with her teeth. She felt his body tense, probably from the cold, or from listening to the steps and making sure he hides her well…The rope was easy to go through, but the rubber was harder, taking twice the effort. Couple of seconds after she heard the door close, the strap finally snapped and Nick was able to spit out the gag.

They did not move, just laid there, him curling around her waiting if there would be more steps. She could feel his breath on her ears, and then his nose digging in between them… Judy closed her eyes – she never thought bliss could be felt under such strange circumstances.

***

When Nick was free of the rope, sitting on the floor and rubbing his limbs, she finally remembered that she needed to ping Clawhouser. Was that the emergency ‘come and get us out!’ or ‘all going ok’? She was not sure, but before she had time to really decide, she heard someone approach again and before they had time to pretend that Nick was still tied up and she was never even there, two mammals walked out of the tunnel.


	12. Carrots and Dill

Nick and Judy froze, staring wordlessly at the jaguar and the mountain goat.

\- Oh look, they multiply! – the jaguar said with a dangerous note in his voice – Looks like rabbit stew is on the menu tonight

 

Nick thought that he should push Judy behind him, hide her with his tail, put himself in between them and her, but as those thoughts raced in his head, he just stood frozen on the spot and now the moment was gone and they both knew she was here. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Judy was standing still, just her claw frantically tapping on her walkie-talkie.

\- You know, guys, eating us is not as good an idea as you think it is – Nick was not sure where he was going with this, but it felt like talking might help to buy them some more time  
\- Oh, really? And why’s that?  
\- Well, first of, who the hell eats foxes? I am fairly sure even in ancient times foxes were not eaten by jaguars. And goats, if I’m not mistaken, have never eaten flesh. – he was trying not to mention bunnies, that story would not have sounded that convincing. – it is likely to give you some sort of food poisoning. As a matter of fact, with the amount of unhealthy stuff mammals eat nowadays, I think eating anyone would give you poisoning.

The jaguar sneered, tail lashing behind his back, the goat just lowered his horns – they were clearly not ready to agree with Nick’s reasoning. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he could see Judy moving slowly to the side, so he had to keep talking, keeping their attention on him, buying her time to escape and call for help.

\- Oh, so you think only predators would want to try the taste of flesh? – the goat spoke for the first time, he had a rather unremarkable voice, the voice you’d expect a boring museum guide or a bank clerk to have  
\- Well, frankly, yes. I could at least understand the… er… historical grounds for this  
\- What a rubbish excuse for discrimination. Our little club is completely inclusive, all mammals welcome. Only fair to extend it to both sides of the table.

Nick did not have the time to reply to that because Judy did something not even he could expect. She managed to move silently to be on the side of the jaguar and the goat, closest to the jaguar, then silently leaped into the air, kicked herself off the tunnel wall and… crashed hind paws first into the head of the jaguar, making his whole body stagger and his head crash sideways with that of the goat. 

“A bunny can go savage!” – was Nick’s first thought. His second thought was that she was absolutely insane: that jaguar could tear her apart. There could be just shreds left of this bunny he loved, and he was stupidly standing there just watching the spectacle. To be fair it was indeed spectacular: Judy kept leaping around, avoiding jaguar’s lashes and even managing to misdirect some of them into the goat. At that point the goat was just kicking frantically, not doing much harm – Nick could see he was not used to being in fights, at least not with someone not form his species.

Nick dug up his walkie-talkie from underneath his shirt: “Clawhouser?! We need back-up! Now!!!” – only at that point did he realize he was not sure where they were and he would have no way of directing his fellow officers to the right place. Yet there was ‘On their way’ coming from the walkie-talkie in the cheetah’s voice, only it sounded uncharacteristically focused. 

Nick did not get a chance to ask anything else, he saw the door of what he presumed to be the head office of this macabre club open, and an already familiar squirrel to dart out of it. He rushed after him, leaping as far as he could and managing to land on him. Landing on the concrete floor on top of a squirrel was painful, but the squirrel definitely did not enjoy it either and struggled to get from underneath the fox.

Judy was hoping her crazy plan would work – she did not know how far the back up was and how long it would get them to come here. That was worrying – she was good at avoiding the blows and keeping the two mammals confused, but this effect of surprise was starting to wear off. And then she noticed the large white spray can, peering out of one of the jaguar’s pockets. It took her several jumps and cost getting a kick in the back, but she managed to snatch it out of the pocket. Judy pressed the button, aiming the nozzle right at the jaguar’s face. He suddenly became a bit cross-eyed, swung a couple more punches into the air and then collapsed. That seemed to have an effect on the goat because he suddenly dashed out into the tunnel. Judy did not pursue him. She rushed to Nick, who was struggling to stay flat on the floor, clearly holding someone down with his weight.

“Carrots, over here!” – he pointed underneath himself and made a gesture he hoped would be interpreted as spraying- he wanted to give as little indication of his plan as was possible. Nick then carefully lifted one side of his body, making sure he was still pinning the squirrel to the ground by his tail. Judy pushed the spray button, aiming at the squirrel’s muzzle. It worked, the squirrel stopped trashing about and laid quietly under Nick.

\- Need to cuff him quickly, this thing wears off pretty fast on larger mammals – Nick said in a hoarse voice, nodding in the direction of the jaguar  
\- Uh, I don’t really have handcuffs on me  
\- Then the rope will do for now… - Nick kept holding the squirrel firmly by the tail in case he was just pretending to be out. He handed it over to Judy, quickly tying the jaguar’s paws with the rope he retrieved from the corner.

Suddenly in the newly established silence they heard more footsteps and sirens somewhere at street level not too far away. Fangmire, the grey wolf, was the first to bolt into the opening out of the tunnel, followed by about half the officers from the pre-sinct, exactly the half who could generally fit into the tunnels.

***

As the Jaguar was properly handcuffed, he finally came round. Nick noted that he has been out for about twenty minutes. Judy must have really sprayed quite a bit into his muzzle. Squirelli was still out, yet, he too got handcuffed. As the officers were filling in paperwork and breaking down the doors in the kidnappers hide out and leading the freed rodents up to the surface, Nick and Judy were quietly standing in the corner, Nick finally got a chance to put his shirt back on.

Fangmire approached them, absent-mindedly holding the white can in one of his paws.  
\- Wow, guys, sterling work. Bogo’s gonna be impressed.  
\- Fang, how did you guys find us?! I don’t even know where we are!  
\- Clawhouser was monitoring Hopps’ phone, so when she stopped responding he got us all raised. I mean, it was obvious from the plans there was a sort of bunker here, I guess it was a service station once, connecting the tunnels. So we practically had them surrounded, well, at least on the surface when Benj told us to go down.  
\- Clawhouser was coordinating the entire operation?! – Judy could not believe her ears.  
\- What, you thought he’s just a receptionist and the designated sweet-tooth in the office? Why do you think Bogo keeps him? He’s the best support officer in the ZPD. He doesn’t physically move fast, I grant you that, but his focus and reactions are pretty fast, so when you need something monitored, or a team coordinated, he’s the guy.  
\- Good to know – Nick said thoughtfully, watching the officers escort out a group of rodents – they haven’t eaten anyone, have they?  
\- Not sure yet, but hopefully no… They surely didn’t starve them!   
\- Yeah, that didn’t fit into their concept, apparently – Judy said  
\- Guys, can you smell something odd? – Fangmire smelled the air  
\- Hmm? – Nick raised an eyebrow trying to keep a nonchalant look. He was quietly hoping to avoid this question, clearly no such luck.  
\- I’m wondering if it’s their sleeping spray gives it off…  
Fangmire absent-mindedly shook the can and pushed the button before Nick or Judy had a chance to say anything. He was taller then Nick and while he was aiming the spray at the floor, he was standing just close enough to Judy, for the spray to go almost directly onto her muzzle. It was not much but, just as she tried to protest, she inhaled it. Suddenly her eyes felt very heavy and the room started spinning. She almost fell down, but Nick managed to catch her by the shoulders.

\- Really, Fangmire?! – Nick was really not as annoyed as he sounded. Fangmire’s clumsiness meant he and his partner could clear out of the tunnels sooner and an added benefit that he would not need to explain the smell of dill (which Nick stopped feeling about an hour ago and nearly forgot about it) to the grey wolf.  
\- Sorry… It was an accident, I just didn’t realize she… Do we need to get her to the hospital?!  
\- Nah, she will be ok, she’ll just sleep through it until it wears off. A couple of hours, maybe a day.  
\- I’m really sorry.  
\- Cheer up, man, that jaguar got knocked out in a fight with her and his buddy goat severely scared, and you just managed to put her down. Quite an achievement!  
\- Hang on, do you mean officer Hopps actually fought with that jaguar?! I thought it was your tricks that got him immobilized…  
\- Yep, she did. I just pinned down the squirrel. Trust me, that jaguar was surprised. Honestly, I was surprised!  
\- Remind me to never get into her bad books. Bloody hell, she took on a jaguar… But you know, I don’t think it’s this spray that gives off the smell…  
\- Yeah, but to be honest the weird smell is not exactly my priority right now! – Nick nodded in Judy’s direction.

Nick lifted Judy and headed into the tunnel through which the kidnapped rodents were evacuated earlier. She laid peaceful in his paws, leaning across his chest – amazing how such amounts of courage and determination could be concentrated in such a small body… Nick signed them out for the day and caught a taxi ride to his place.

***

Judy slowly opened her eyes – the evening sun was coloring the room in orange, splashing out the last rays of color before disappearing behind the horizon. She liked the evenings, the way the daylight faded and got replaced by the hues of blue, from bright to inky dark. Suddenly it dawned on her that she was not at her place. She was in Nick’s living room, on his couch! The events of the day started coming back to her, so she pushed the blanket aside and got up.

\- Nick? Nick, are you here? – she called out, looking around the seemingly deserted flat  
\- Oh, look who’s up! Glad you’re back to consciousness – the smiling ginger muzzle appeared in the door frame  
\- What happened? I remember Fangmire spraying that can and…  
\- Yeah, you caught most of it and passed out, so I thought I let you sleep somewhere more comfortable then those tunnels. Are you feeling ok?  
\- Yes, thanks for taking care of me. What time is it?  
\- Umm, around 9. You’ve been sleeping for a couple of hours.  
\- Right… About the case, did they… did they eat any of them?  
\- No, thankfully not. Clawhouser just dropped me a text, they’ve all been delivered to their homes by now.  
\- Good. And the perps? Whom do we have under arrest?  
\- Well, we have their leader – that squirrel I was pinning down, the jaguar you managed to knock out, the goat guy…I think they’re still searching for the sheep. Might be someone else, not sure – the team is still combing through their head office.  
\- Good, glad they did not actually put their plan to action!  
\- Yeah, so am I!.. You know… You know, when they caught me it was the first time I actually sorta lived through, um, a prey experience. I never thought about it before. I never actually even considered how this might feel and then there I was eyed by them as a potential dinner. What I’m trying to say is, well, if you or someone like you feels like that at least part of the time, I’m not surprised they carry a fox repellant. I know I would, if I felt like that.  
\- Nick, a couple of nutters is not a reason to fear every predator! Besides, as they said themselves, their club included both prey and predators! So…  
\- No, no I understand all that, I just mean… it was a new perspective, you know. And strangely, I am somewhat glad it happened, because that way I feel like I could understand you better and… - Nick tailed off, suddenly realizing he was probably saying something not too appropriate, - Actually, how about dinner? Are you hungry?  
\- Yeah, but maybe I should get going… It is getting pretty late…  
\- Oh, please stay – the words tumbled out of him before he could stop himself. Nick’s ears fell back, eyes looking intently on Judy, but suddenly it felt to him like it would be now or never, - at least for dinner. And I anyway already put your uniform from yesterday into the washing; it will be dry by tomorrow…

Judy couldn’t help but smile and nod. She didn’t want to protest, she didn’t want to go and Nick made up all the excuses. She just stood there and melted under his green-eyed gaze.

\- So, how about a pizza? I’ll call for the takeaway  
\- Thanks. The usual broccoli-mushroom one for me please  
\- On its way, Carrots, on its way – Nick greened and tossed her the violet t-shirt she slept in the night before.

***

Nick and Judy were sitting in the living room by a pizza box, Nick just finished telling her how he followed the trail and ended up lying tied up in the tunnels:  
\- I was so glad you found me! Carrots, yet again you saved my life!  
\- Come on Nick, they wouldn’t have eaten you. Who eats foxes!?  
\- No one, and I’d like to keep it that way – he chuckled and looked at her smiling  
\- And yet… it foes not explain the smell of dill!

Nick was just about to tell her about the Carrots and Dill perfume incident, but was stopped by the sound of a doorbell. He was definitely not expecting anyone, and was not too thrilled at the interruption. They both got up and came to the door. Nick looked through the wicked and saw Finnick waiting for him to open. Begrudgingly Nick swung the door open.

\- Evening, bro. – said Finnick with a mocking salute at Nick  
\- Hey Finnick! – Judy smiled at him as Nick cleared off the door and let the fennec fox through  
\- Hi Judy. Glad you’re here, I thought he’d never ask!  
\- Ask what? – Judy raised an eyebrow and glanced at Nick, who seemed to have frozen in his tracks.  
\- Oh, never mind, that’s not why I’m here – Finnick started searching through his pockets – Right, there we go, two tickets for you for the Red Carpet premiere of Paw Track, that new one. Kevin knows a couple of guys there…  
\- Wow, thank you, but what’s the occasion?! – Judy looked positively excited, while Nick just stood there surprised  
\- Well, all the Rodent-town newspapers are about the arrest of the gang of kidnappers, so Kevin was feeling totally optimistic and, I dunno, generous.   
\- Thanks, he shouldn’t have…  
\- Well, he did, so here they are, - Finnick pushed the tickets into Judy’s paw, - Chiao, lovebirds!

On that Finnick turned round and marched out of the door, leaving Nick and Judy behind, staring at the pair of tickets.

\- His manners, or better say lack there of, never cease to amaze me. – Nick sighed, breaking the silence  
\- Well, he brought us the tickets…  
\- Yeah, well, I suppose that is not too bad  
\- Nick?  
\- Mm?  
\- What did he say you wanted to ask me?  
\- Oh… That… - Nick felt his ears growing hot, he cursed the fennec fox internally - well, Finnick thinks that I should ask you out. You know, on a date. – He was watching Judy’s eyes go larger, her ears perked up and nose twitched in the most adorable way, and went on - And I, um, I agree with him. I know we already spend a lot of time together, so technically it would probably not be too different, and this formal asking out seems so odd, but never the less, I thought…

He did not have the chance to finish his stumbling speech (why is it so easy to talk to people when you are hustling them and so hard when you are asking them out? Should it not be the other way around?), because the bunny came up to him and pulled him by the collar of his shirt to put the fox’s nose right next to hers. “I thought you’d never ask, you dumb fox!” – and on that she kissed him.

***

Nick showed up at her door looking amazing. Judy has never seen him in a suit and wearing a bow-tie, and now realized just how breathtakingly handsome he looked.

\- Wow, Nick, you look stunning! – she let him get through the door  
\- I could say the same about you! Aaaand… - he dug into his pocket and fished out a small perfume bottle – I got you a little something  
\- Carrots and Dill perfume?!  
\- Yeah, since thanks to their stupid promotion action you were able to find me. And you like dill and it is mostly dill, so…  
\- You know, this smell is unisex, but I think dill is a male smell, sooo… - she jumped on the chair to get level with his head and sprayed a little bit behind his ears, - Nick Wilde, I could eat you right now!  
\- Dumb bunny, who on Earth eats foxes?! – he smirked at her, and lifted her off the chair, hugging her to his chest. 

She gently bit one of his ears, and he thought he could melt right there. “Carrots and dill clearly works” – he smiled to himself and hugged her closer.


End file.
